As with Casino Royale, the latest James Bond film Quantum of Solace has scored multiple wins at this years Empire Awards. Fighting off tough competition Bond came through with two wins out of it’s five nominations which included Best Thriller, Best Newcomer (Gemma Arterton), Best Actor (Daniel Craig), Best Actress (Olga Kurylenko) and Best soundtrack.
Both Quantum of Solace Bond girls (pictured below) Gemma Arterton and Olga Kurylenko attended the awards ceremony held in London.
Above: Olga Kurylenko (left) and Gemma Arterton (right) on the red carpet.
Dara O Briain hosted the event, and started with a bit of Quantum fun. “I recently saw a very glossy Virgin Atlantic advert; it was called Quantum of Solace. I mean, I know how product placement works: I recently watched a Jessica Alba movie and at the end of it I wanted Jessica Alba. But seriously, Quantum of Solace made no sense from beginning to end – which is how a Bond movie should be. That hotel at the end: who designed that hotel? A hotel that explodes if you fart in its general direction. What architect came up with that? ‘We’ve built a hotel of the three most explosive things known to man: liquid nitrogen, dynamite and Christian Bale’s eyeline!’”
Above: Olga Kurylenko accepts
the award for Best Thriller
Shortly after that, the award for Best Newcomer was announced. Gemma Arterton, Robert Pattinson, Jim Sturgess, and Toby Kebell were the nominees. Arterton won the award, “I’m completely winging this.” she said, “I never prepare for anything. Watching that I realize how wonderful all the nominees are, really and truly, especially Toby [Kebbell] who’s a good friend of mine. But thank you all very much, it does mean a lot. Have a great night everyone!”
The next award that Quantum of Solace was up for was Best Thriller, which’Quantum’ won. Olga Kurylenko accepted the award on behalf of everyone who worked on Quantum of Solace. “Good evening.” she said, “it’s such a pleasure being here tonight and I’m very happy to receive this award. First of all I’d like to thank all the readers of Empire for supporting our film, and I accept this award on behalf of everyone who worked on Quantum of Solace. It was wonderful to work with people from the UK – by now it feels like home to me because I’ve spent so much time here. I especially want to thank Barbara Broccoli, Michael Wilson, Marc Forster and of course Daniel Craig.”
Bond then lost Best Soundtrack to Mamma Mia, which starred former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan. Christian Bale then took Best Actor which 007 star Daniel Craig was nominated for, and finally Best Actress which Bond girl Olga Kurylenko was nominated for went to Helena Bonham Carter for her part in “Sweeney Todd”.
